Xiaomi Pad 7 review

First look at the Pad 7; you’ll barely be able to tell the difference from Pad 6 which launched two years ago. However, there’s a noticeable heft to the overall construction of the Pad 7. It’s all glass and aluminium here like an iPad and Xiaomi has removed the connector lining that joins the glass to the frame. It’s now a proper flat design identical to an iPad. At the back, Xiaomi has given special attention to its design this year. The pogo pins line up with the Xiaomi logo harmoniously. However, there’s a massive camera bump housing a single 13MP camera. It looks like three cameras are inside that module but it’s just smoke and mirrors.

This is a sharp display. More pixels on a display are always welcome and the 3.2K resolution (3200x2136) on this LCD makes everything clear and sharp. 345 pixels per inch means the content looks clear on YouTube and the text looks sharp while working. It’s also squished into an 11.2-inch form factor with a 3:2 aspect ratio. That may be a bit squarish for Netflix and chill but games and editing are fun.  The quad-speakers don’t throw audio from all four grilles but the quality and loudness are commendable. It’s lacking a bit of bottom end but it has some depth and detail.

I wouldn’t be typing out the spec sheet normally but the Xiaomi Pad 7 has a seriously capable display with its 12-bit colours and support for HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. Of course, HDR content on this won’t kick an OLED panel out of business but for an LCD, this display is sharp, punchy and packs plenty of brightness. The P3 colour gamut is also great for folks who love to edit photos on Lightroom. I tried it and it’s something I enjoyed a lot. Budding and amateur photographers wouldn’t mind having this in their bag for photo editing on the go. If you want to take this and work on the move, then Xiaomi will also sell you a  ₹31,999 variant with a Nano-Texture Glass Display that cuts out glare much like the Apple iPad Pro M4.

The display is good, come rain or shine! It can reach up to 800nits in High Brightness Mode and also has HydroTouch, which lets you scroll even if there’s water on the display.

Now, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 on this tablet closely matches Apple’s similarly priced iPad with A14 Bionic. However, the Snapdragon was released a few years after Apple’s chip and it has some advantages, especially in the efficiency. The Xiaomi runs cooler under multitasking and gaming load. There’s a negligible drop in performance when playing games or editing in Lightroom over an extended time. That’s unsurprising because tablets have bigger heat-dissipating areas than smartphones. Regardless, the Xiaomi Pad 7 flies through content creation workloads and gaming.

The tablet starts from ₹27,999 for 128GB storage and 8GB RAM but the 128GB storage variant has UFS 3.1. It’s not bad but if your use requires a lot of photo and video editing then the 256GB + 12GB variant we have for review has a UFS 4.0 storage which is faster and costs ₹30,999. We dumped high-resolution photos into Lightroom and the Xiaomi Pad 7 handles it like a champ.

Whip out the Xiaomi Focus Pen that is sold separately for ₹5,999 and you can start editing your photos with the pen’s precision. However, it’s not as smooth as the Apple Pencil. Catching the edit sliders in Lightroom with the Focus Pen can take a few tries. The Pen mostly focuses on being a tool for office work. It has a dedicated button which lets you use the Focus Pen as a pointer for presentations. The other button lets you bring up Mi Canvas for writing and sketching, and the third one lets you take a screenshot. Surprisingly the notes app in the Pad 7 doesn’t convert handwriting to text which is a feature I use a lot on my Remarkable 2.

The Focus Pen doesn’t feel like a must-have for Xiaomi Pad 7 and if you’re serious about sketching and illustration then the Apple iPads have more optimised apps for that kind of stuff. However, the Focus Keyboard drives home the value proposition of the Xiaomi Pad 7. It’s the best ₹8,999 you can spend on an accessory for this tablet. It converts the whole tablet experience into a portable computer. And the Xiaomi HyperOS 2 aids that multitasking work wizardry like a champ.

The Xiaomi Focus Keyboard is almost identical to the Apple Magic Keyboard. It’s made of soft leatherette material that feels nice to touch and hold. It’s compact and feels premium. Once you try it, there’s no going back and you might also start questioning why Apple is charging a wallet-crushing ₹29,900 for the Magic Keyboard for iPad. The iPad’s keyboard is made of aluminium and has a glass trackpad. The Xiaomi’s plastic trackpad is not bad but it’s not as smooth as Apple’s. It’s also a smaller trackpad so using gestures has a small learning curve. That said, the keys are better than Apple’s. There’s more key travel and the keys are backlit as well. There are even keyboard shortcuts that work with the HyperOS 2. Half of our review was typed on the Xiaomi Focus Keyboard and it works wonderfully. There’s also a Work Station mode similar to Apple’s Stage Manager that keeps multiple tabs open on the screen like a laptop would.

Carrying this in a cab or a flight to finish work is easy and good since the tablet itself is floating on the hinge and doesn’t wobble. The front camera is also positioned in a landscape mode so you’ll look like a true professional during office meetings. The quality is decent too and the on-board mics don’t have any noise cancelling features but they do a good job of clearly conveying your words about taking a holiday in the first week of January to your boss.

Bring a Xiaomi smartphone with HyperOS next to this thing and you can control it from the tablet itself. You can drag and drop files with incredible speeds on this connection. You can even open apps from your phone on the tablet. You don’t need the two devices to be on the same Google app store, you just need to log into the same Xiaomi account from the tablet and the Xiaomi smartphone. This doesn’t work with any Android smartphones besides Xiaomi smartphones with HyperOS.

The tablet also has almost Apple iPad-like gesture controls and split-screen multifunction. You can have two apps open in split-screen and save the combination in the dock as well. Additionally, you can open two more apps as floating windows on top of the split-screen function.

Xiaomi has crafted a real gem with the Pad 7. It's not just a pretty face with its sleek design and vibrant display, but it also packs a punch in performance, making it a great companion for both work and play. The Pad 7 is a testament to how far Android tablets have come, offering a premium experience without the premium price tag. It's a versatile device that can easily handle everything from demanding games to creative workloads. And with the addition of the Focus Keyboard, it transforms into a productivity powerhouse, rivalling even the mighty iPad.

Sure, the Focus Pen might not be as smooth as the Apple Pencil, and the trackpad might not be as large as Apple's, but these are minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. The Xiaomi Pad 7 offers exceptional value for money, making it the best Android tablet on the market right now. It's a device that punches above its weight, delivering a premium tablet experience that's hard to beat.